Online entrepreneurship is rapidly taking root as more people look for business alternatives that are recession-proof, offer good profit returns and have flexible timings.
The increasing exposure and easy access to internet is also making a lot of people start a business online, which bears more benefits with fewer risks, than conducting trade in a real business setting.
Internet expert and owner of Entertraining Educational Technologies firm Ernesto Verdugo says, “Most people are apprehensive about investing in an online business. There’s hardly any risk in investing online.”
“You can start an online business with less than $300, a very good business with about $500 and the return on investment is a thousand fold,” he adds.
Ways of earning online
Internet provides a myriad of opportunities to make money and be an online entrepreneur. For instance, writing a blog has been a very popular tool in earning a livelihood.
Blogging has become a common phenomenon as many people take up to blogging. Blogs are much liked by search engines like Yahoo, MSN and Google, who constantly rate them.
Blogs have in the past turned ‘common people’ into a celebrity, thereby bringing them offline business of publishing a book or appearing on a TV show.
Online TV is also increasingly becoming popular as a lot of people with a minimum investment of a small camera and a computer are doing shows and making money through promotion of products and online advertising.
UAE based website- dubizzle.com, an online classifieds business, has seen a tremendous increase in business through their community. One can see advertisements for buying and leasing of property, cars, jobs, music and art lessons on this site.
The portal was started by Sim Whatley and JC Butler five years ago when they came to Dubai and started looking for a house, car and other things that people need to settle down in a new city.
“We started our business with an investment of $12000, we were a two-man team and now the company has 24 employees,” says Whatley.
The website has seen huge growth in terms of traffic and advertising. The year on year revenues for the website from the period ended January 2009 to January 2010 saw an increase of 450 per cent.
“There are benefits of having an online business. It’s more casual, there’s no corporate structure to follow, one can work from anywhere and we do tend to take more holidays than other people,” says Whatley.
Some interesting internet business concepts that have caught on are - “Soap in a rope” which is an online business of selling soap made by housewives. Another offbeat service found online is giving advice on “What to do when your pet dies.”
Getting revenue
Social networking sites are abuzz with activity in today’s day and age. They have the power to make one a celebrity in their own right.
“If you have anywhere between 1000 to 2000 people following you on Twitter and/or Facebook, you are an internet celebrity. It’s not like you are Shahrukh Khan or Angelina Jolie, but you are a celebrity in your industry,” explains Verdugo.
The internet community runs on word of mouth, any piece of information or news spreads like fire through the communities and advertisers are looking at internet for this very reason.
There are advertisers who want to be on sites where everyone is logged in, so be it a popular blog, Facebook or Twitter or for that matter any site which has a fresh idea and good traffic attracts the advertisers.
Isam Bayazidi, the Chief Executive of
www.ikoo.com - an advertising network in the Middle East region, says, “Four years ago when we started this network, it was difficult to get clients to spend online but now with the increased internet exposure, it has become a little better.”
Bayazidi explains that companies now understand that the accuracy of measurement is the best in online. One can give a precise report on how many people saw/read the ad, and also how many clicks were on the page where the ad was displayed. Corporates have also understood that online medium reduces wastage and maximises return on investment.
He adds, “We are seeing an increasing number of regional companies interested in running an online advertising campaign. The clients now want interesting new sites which are homegrown and related to the region to spend on.”
Online Success
Experts say the key to be a successful online entrepreneur is to be passionate about something and offering a product or service in that segment.
To be able to start a business online, one needs to identify an internet community of interest and understand the principles of interacting with people online.
Verdugo emphasises that Internet is the new virtual economy and one which is recession proof.
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